Brian Brady

Guest Blogger

National Director, Mikva Challenge

Chicago, Illinois

Brian leads the Mikva Challenge with the vision of bringing civic empowerment and political participation to all young people, especially low-income youth of color who are often left out of the democratic process. Coming from a family that was very civically engaged, Brian understood early in life the transformative impacts of learning civics by doing it. His experience as a youth worker on the West Side of Chicago reinforced for him the critical need for authentic youth voice and youth activism in our public schools.

In 14 years of leadership, Brian has helped grow the organization from an all-volunteer operation that served 120 students in 8 schools to one that now engages over 6,000 youth annually from 120 Chicago area schools. Currently, he’s spearheading the replication of Mikva’s unique model of action civics in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and hopes to one day see an education and political system that engages young people in concrete decision making on the national, state, and community levels.